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American  fiercest* 

ON 

MISSION  FIELDS. 


WILLIAM  GOODELL,  D.  D. 


A 


“They  counted  not  their  lives  dear  unto  them¬ 
selves.” 

- »  . 

American  Heroes 

ON 

MISSION  FIELDS. 

BRIEF  MISSIONARY  BIOGRAPHIES. 

H.  C.  HAYDN,  D.  D.,  EDITOR. 


NO.  5. 

WILLIAM  GOODELL,  D.  D. 

BY 

PRESIDENT  S.  C.  BARTLETT,  D.  D. 


AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY, 

150  NASSAU  STREET,  NEW  YORK. 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
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https://archive.org/dQtails/williamgoodellddOObart 


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- 


AMERICAN  HEROES 


ON 

MISSION  FIELDS. 

■  *  ■  — 

V.  WILLIAM  GOODELL.* 

Many  years  ago  nothing  could  be  found  that  marked 
the  birthplace  of  William  Goodell  in  the  little  town  of 
Templeton,  Mass.,  but  the  traces  of  a  cellar-hole  on  a 
hillside.  But  in  the  year  1792  there  stood  on  that  spot 
a  one-story  house,  containing  a  garret  floored  with 
rough  boards,  and  two  rooms  below.  One  of  these 
rooms  answered  all  the  purposes  of  kitchen,  dining¬ 
room,  family  room,  and  parlor;  the  other,  reached  by 
passing  through  the  first,  was  a  small  bedroom,  con¬ 
taining  a  bed  for  the  parents,  and  beneath  it  a  trundle- 
bed  that  was  rolled  out  at  night  for  the  children.  It 
was  three  miles  from  the  Congregational  church  and 
from  the  family  physician,  but  not  far,  apparently,  from 

*  The  materials  for  this  sketch  have  been  drawn  almost  wholly 
from  the  ample  store  contained  in  the  volume,  “  Forty  Years  in 
the  Turkish  Empire,”  by  E.  D.  G.  Prime,  D.  D.,  often  in  the  words 
of  the  author,  and,  when  practicable,  in  Mr.  Goodell’s  own  lan¬ 
guage. 


4 


AMERICAN  HEROES'. 


the  district  school.  In  this  little  cottage  was  raised  up 
to  maturity  a  family  of  eight  children,  of  whom  William 
Goodell  was  one.  There  was  no  lock  or  bolt  on  any 
door,  and  no  key  to  any  trunk  or  drawer,  so  little  was 
there  to  protect.  The  family  library  consisted  chiefly, 
if  not  solely,  of  the  family  Bible,  “  Watts’  Psalms  and 
Hymns,”  Doddridge’s  “  Rise  and  Progress,”  Pike’s 
“  Cases  of  Conscience,”  the  second  volume  of  “  Fox’s 
Book  of  Martyrs,”  and  the  “Assembly’s  Catechism.” 
But  this  scanty  religious  aliment  nourished  a  most  no¬ 
ble  and  godly  father  and  mother. 

Mrs.  Goodell,  the  mother,  though  called  to  a  life  of 
pinching  economy,  and  at  length  of  protracted  and 
painful  illness,  was  the  embodiment  of  delicacy,  neat¬ 
ness,  taste,  and  industry,  as  well  as  of  meekness,  kind¬ 
ness,  and  devoted  piety.  Her  son  used  in  after  days  to 
remember  her  as  she  sat  carding  wool  by  the  light  of  a 
pine  knot  and  singing  “  beautiful  hymns  ”  to  her  chil¬ 
dren;  as  ministering  to  the  needy  from  her  scanty 
means,  and  governed  in  all  her  speech  by  the  law  of 
love;  as  absorbed  with  the  desire  that  her  children 
might  be  the  children  of  God;  and  as  passing  away  at 
last  from  her  bed  of  suffering  in  triumph,  with  a  “  halle¬ 
lujah  ”  on  her  lips,  interrupted  in  the  midst,  and  “  fin¬ 
ished  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan.”  “  O  my  kind 
mother,”  exclaimed  the  son  a  generation  later,  “what 
would  I  not  give  to  see  thy  gentle  face  once  more,  and 
on  my  knees  to  ask  ten  thousand  pardons  for  every 
unkind  word  I  ever  answered  thee  and  for  every  grief 
or  pain  I  unnecessarily  caused  thee !” 


WILLIAM  GOODELL 


5 


The  piety  of  Mr.  Goodell,  the  father,  was  of  the 
rarest  type.  He  seemed  literally  to  meditate  day  and 
night  in  God’s  law.  He  was  a  man  of  prayer — praying 
aloud  as  he  rode  on  horseback,  praying  in  his  heart  for 
the  stranger  whom  he  met,  praying  over  every  rod  of 
ground  he  cultivated.  He  was  also  full  of  the  mission¬ 
ary  spirit  before  the  full  time  of  missions  was  come. 
Every  Sunday,  whatever  might  be  the  weather,  found 
him  and  his  on  the  way  to  the  distant  church.  He  sat 
on  the  stout  old  family  horse,  holding  one  child  in  his 
arms,  the  wife  sat  on  a  pillion  behind  him  with  another 
child  in  her  arms,  and  still  a  third  child  clung  to  her. 
After  the  Sunday  dinner,  which  had  been  cooked  the 
day  before,  the  family  were  summoned  to  the  catechism, 
which  they  were  expected  to  have  learned  by  heart. 
When  they  slept  in  the  trundle-bed,  the  children  were 
taught  to  close  their  day  with  the  Lord’s  Prayer  and 
“  Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep.”  Mr.  Goodell  was  so 
conscientious  in  his  dealings  that  he  often  seemed  to  be 
more  careful  for  the  interests  of  others  than  for  his  own. 
The  world  did  not  go  smoothly  with  him.  There  had 
been  a  time  when  he  owned  a  hundred  acres  free  from 
encumbrance.  But  a  lung-fever,  which  laid  him  aside 
from  his  work  for  a  year,  was  followed  by  long-contin¬ 
ued  illness  in  the  family.  His  property  melted  away, 
till  in  the  later  years  of  his  life  he  lived  on  a  pension  of 
ninety-six  dollars  a  year,  paid  him  as  a  soldier  of  the 
Revolution.  “And  though  to  his  children  he  left  no 
inheritance,  no,  not  so  much  as  a  cent,  yet,”  said  his 
son  William,  “  in  his  godly  example  and  prayers  he  has 


6 


AMERICAN  HEROES. 


left  them  the  very  richest  legacy  which  any  father  ever 

♦ 

left  to  his  children.”  When  he  died  at  the  venerable 
age  of  eighty-six,  his  intercourse  with  heaven  had  be¬ 
come  so  constant  in  his  later  years  that  “  we  can  hardly 
suppose,”  says  the  same  son,  “  it  was  ever  interrupted 
in  his  waking  hours  fifteen  minutes  at  a  time.” 

In  such  a  home  as  this  was  William  Goodell  born, 
in  the  midst  of  a  furious  snowstorm,  on  the  14th  day  of 
February,  1792.  The  boy  early  proved  to  be  full  of 
vivacity  and  humor  and  to  have  a  remarkably  retentive 
memory.  But  his  constitution  was  delicate.  It  was  evi¬ 
dent  that  he  never  could  endure  a  life  of  manual  labor, 
and  no  higher  expectation  was  entertained  for  him  than 
that  he  might  become  a  teacher  in  the  lower  branches 
of  education.  He  was  always  a  conscientious  boy,  but 
not  a  professor  of  religion  till  the  age  of  nineteen.  In  a 
revival  of  religion  at  that  time  (A.  D.  1811),  the  faithful 
prayers  of  his  “gentle  mother”  were  answered,  and 
very  likely  her  blessed  memory  honored — for  she  had 
passed  away  two  years  before — by  his  public  avowal  of 
faith  in  Christ.  He  had  then  no  purpose  to  be  either  a 
missionary  or  a  preacher.  But  the  Lord  led  him  on 
step  by  step.  It  had  become  the  intense  desire  of  the 
father’s  heart  that  he  should  be  a  minister  of  the  gospel. 
He  encouraged  the  son  to  attempt  an  education,  although 
he  had  no  money  and  knew  no  way  to  bring  it  about. 
At  length  they  heard  that  beneficiary  aid  was  given  at 
Phillips  Academy,  and  the  son  caught  at  the  hope. 
He  walked  and  rode  sixty  miles  to  Andover,  and  “  foot¬ 
ed  it  the  whole  distance  ”  home  again,  weary  and  foot- 


WIEEIAM  GOODKUy. 


7 


sore,  with  little  encouragement  and  a  heavy  heart.  The 
charity  fund  was  overloaded,  other  applicants  were 
waiting,  and  he  must  in  any  case  get  on  for  one  quar¬ 
ter  without  help.  But  how?  And  on  this  question 
they  prayed  and  thought,  and  thought  and  prayed,  till 
the  time  came  for  the  term  to  begin.  Then,  “  without 
money,  without  credit,  and  without  any  plan,”  he  put 
his  books  and  clothing  into  his  trunk,  strapped  it  upon 
his  back,  and  took  up  his  march. 

GETTING  AN  EDUCATION. 

There  is  no  braver  or  more  pathetic  sight  than  that 
of  William  Goodell  plodding  through  that  sixty  miles, 
with  the  trunk  chafing  his  back  to  the  permanent  injury 
of  his  spine,  the  boys  hooting  at  him  in  the  str  ets,  and 
he,  weary  and  silent,  steadily  holding  the  middle  of  the 
road  to  save  extra  steps  till  he  stood  on  Andover  hill ; 
depositing  his  trunk  in  the  entry  of  the  Principal,  going 
forth  with  list  after  list  of  licensed  boarding-places,  to 
be  -refused  by  every  one,  and  bursting  into  tears  on  his 
fruitless  return;  then  afterwards  stealing  out  unper¬ 
ceived  to  find  a  home  in  an  unlicensed  house,  that  of  a 
profane  and  intemperate  shoemaker  with  an  earnest 
Christian  wife.  It  makes  one’s  heart  ache  to  think 
of  it. 

His  first  lesson  showed  the  quality  of  the  youth.  It 
was  in  the  Latin  Grammar.  When  called  on,  he  recited 
the  first  page  verbatim ,  coarse  print  and  fine,  notes  and 
all,  then  the  next  page,  and  the  third  in  like  manner, 
more  in  extent  than  was  assigned,  and  much  that  was 


8 


American  heroes. 


only  to  be  read  and  not  recited.  Said  Mr.  Adams,  the 
Principal,  “You  must  have  studied  this  before.”  Said 
young  Goodell,  “  I  never  saw  a  Latin  Grammar  till  you 
gave  me  this.”  He  had  made  his  mark.  He  was  put 
in  a  class  with  two  other  choice  boys,  and  the  three  be¬ 
came  the  delight  of  Mr.  Adams;  never  absent,  never 
tardy  or  unprepared,  and  mastering  their  lessons  “  till 
it  seemed  real  fun  for  him  to  hear  us.”  Near  the  end 
of  the  quarter  Lieutenant-Governor  Phillips  volun¬ 
teered  to  bear  the  expenses  of  the  three,  to  their  inex¬ 
pressible  relief. 

In  his  second  year  at  Andover  his  uncle,  Solomon 
Goodell,  of  Jamaica,  Vt.,  had  written  to  Preceptor 
Adams  to  know  if  the  young  man  was  “  worth  raising,” 
and  received  such  a  reply  that  he  sent  him  a  fine  yoke 
of  oxen.  These  were  sold  next  day  for  money  enough 
to  pay  the  bills  of  the  year.  So  had  a  good  Provi¬ 
dence  smoothed  the  way  of  the  penniless  boy. 

Here  the  influence  of  that  admirable  teacher,  Mr. 
John  Adams,  the  preaching  of  Porter,  Woods,  and 
Stuart,  and  all  the  new  surroundings  gradually  and 
greatly  changed  the  thoughts  and  purposes  of  this  boy 
“just  out  of  the  woods.”  But  the  most  memorable 
event  in  his  experience  at  this  time,  perhaps,  was  his 
attendance  on  the  ordination  of  the  first  young  Ameri¬ 
can  missionaries,  Judson,  Newell,  Hall,  Nott,  and  Rice, 
at  Salem.  The  day  was  bitterly  cold,  the  way  slippery, 
and  the  young  men,  of  whom  he  was  one,  walked  twenty 
miles,  straining  every  muscle  to  arrive  in  time.  The 
new  and  solemn  service  made  a  profound  impression. 


WILLIAM  GOODEN.  ‘  9 

At  the  close  he  started  for  Andover  without  rest  or  re¬ 
freshment,  but  became  so  worn  out  as  to  need  the  sup¬ 
port  of  his  friends,  and  reached  home  so  exhausted  as 
to  lie  down  before  the  fire  in  an  alarming  state  of  ex¬ 
haustion.  But  he  felt  amply  repaid,  for  it  filled  his 
heart  for  life  with  the  missionary  spirit. 

From  Phillips  Academy  he  entered  Dartmouth 
College  in  company  with  his  friend,  Daniel  Temple, 
each  induced  by  the  offer  of  a  hundred  dollars  a  year 
from  the  beneficiary  funds  of  Kimball  Union  Academy, 
at  Meriden,  N.  H.  Every  winter  he  taught  school.  In 
every  school  he  aimed  to  secure  the  spiritual  good  of 
his  pupils,  and  in  Keene,  N.  H.,  his  efforts  were  attend¬ 
ed  with  very  deep  religious  interest. 

While  in  college  he  was  wholly  unambitious,  never 
spending  a  thought  on  college  honors.  He  was  hin¬ 
dered  by  his  delicate  health,  which  limited  his  time  of 
actual  study  to  little  more  than  three  hours  a  day.  But 
those  were  hours  of  intense  and  earnest  concentration. 
And  he  graduated  with  the  third  appointment — Presi¬ 
dent  James  Marsh  and  Bishop  Carlton  Chase  outranking 
him.  The  glimpses  that  we  get  of  his  college  life  reveal 
the  same  mingling  of  genial  humor,  intense  earnestness, 
activity,  and  piety  which  characterized  his  whole  subse¬ 
quent  life.  A  letter  from  Temple — his  academy,  college, 
and  seminary  chum,  his  fellow-missionary,  and  life-long 
friend — written  December  21,  1816,  while  Temple  was 
teaching  at  Boscawen  and  Goodell  at  Keene,  incident¬ 
ally  implies  all  this  and  more.  Temple  opens  with  a 
subject  that  lay  near  both  their  hearts,  “  the  proceed- 


IO 


AMERICAN  HEROES. 


ings  of  the  infatuated  Legislature  of  this  State,”  which 
“  with  gigantic  strides  directs  its  course  towards  Dart¬ 
mouth,”  to  “  transform  our  good  old  Alma  Mater  and 
stuff  their  evanescent  university  with  professorships  as 
fugitive  as  the  gales  of  autumn.”  But  he  trusts  “  the 
same  Providence  which  has  hitherto  blasted  their  pur¬ 
poses  and  turned  their  designs  into  foolishness.”  It 
was  the  famous  Dartmouth  College  case.  Temple  is 
boarding  with  a  physician  “as  risible  as  yourself,”  and 
thinks  of  his  friend  on  a  certain  occasion  as  “walking 
with  a  ‘  lady  by  your  side.’  ”  He  himself  would  gladly 
“  dispense  with  about  a  score  of  giggling  boys  from  his 
school.”  Their  friend  Boardman,  of  Norwich,  had 
“  brought  a  piece  of  cloth,  a  present  to  Goodell  and 
Temple”  from  certain  ladies  of  his  and  their  acquaint¬ 
ance,  enough  for  two  pairs  of  trousers.  Temple  antici¬ 
pates  longingly  a  return  to  their  “beloved  scenes  of 
mutual  friendship  and  colloquial  felicity,”  inquires  ear¬ 
nestly  for  the  religious  aspect  of  things  at  Keene,  re¬ 
ports  the  spiritual  condition  at  Boscawen,  laments  his 
own  unworthiness,  and  invites  his  friend  to  meet  him 
often  before  the  throne  of  their  Father. 

During  their  college  course  (in  1815)  occurred  the 
most  powerful  revival  ever  witnessed  in  the  institution, 
the  most  remarkable  indeed  that  Goodell  ever  knew. 
The  number  of  pious  students  in  the  upper  classes  had 
been  very  small — only  one  in  the  Senior  class.  There 
was  no  prayer-meeting  conducted  by  students.  The 
Theological  Society,  apparently  just  formed,  held  its 
sessions  with  locked  doors  and  barred  windows,  to  se- 


WIIrlylAM  GOODELL. 


II 


cure  itself  against  interruption.  But  about  this  time  the 
society  unanimously  voted  that  each  member  should, 
during  the  coming  week,  converse  with  at  least  three 
fellow-students  on  personal  religion.  They  did  so — 
“  some  of  them  with  thirty  times  three,”  for  at  once  the 
Spirit  descended  in  a  most  remarkable  manner.  Many 
of  the  finest  scholars  in  college  and  many  of  the  young 
people  of  the  village  were  converted.  The  room  of 
Temple  and  Goodell  was  thronged  from  morning  till 
night  with  inquirers.  Goodell  never  wearied  of  recall¬ 
ing  that  precious  time  and  its  bright  array  of  converts, 
among  whom  he  specially  enumerates  Professors  Tor- 
rey,  Fisk,  Bush,  Upham,  and  Haddock  (and  Miss  Lang, 
afterwards  his  wife),  Presidents  Wheeler,  Marsh,  and 
Cushing,  Bishop  Chase,  and  “  the  beloved  missionary, 
Levi  Spaulding,”  who  “  gave  his  heart  to  God  under  a 
pine-tree  that  will  be  remembered  in  heaven.”  In  his 
old  age  Goodell  wrote,  “  I  do  not  know  that  we  were 
ever  more  honored  of  God  as  his  instruments  of  doing 
good  than  during  those  blessed  years.” 

-  MISSIONARY  IMPULSES. 

Near  the  close  of  his  Freshman  year  he  seems  first 
to  have  raised  the  question  of  entering  the  missionary 
work.  He  was  profoundly  stirred  by  the  life  of  Harriet 
Newell.  “  I  could  not  restrain  my  tears  while  looking 
on  her  likeness.”  In  July  the  following  year  he  was 
present  at  the  ordination  of  six  missionaries  at  New- 
buryport — Mills,  Richards,  Meigs,  Warren,  Bardwell, 
and  Poor — and  we  learn  nothing  further  of  the  leadings 


12 


AMERICAN  HEROES. 


of  his  mind  in  this  direction  till  we  find  him  at  Ando¬ 
ver  (in  1817),  a  member  of  that  “sacred  band” — with 
its  secret  constitution  written  in  cipher — the  missionary- 
band.  Here  the  personal  contact  with  Fisk,  Parsons, 
and  Spaulding  pressed  home  the  question  of  duty,  till 
he  adopted  their  determination  “  to  stop  his  ears  against 
all  the  apparently  restricted  calls  of  duty  to  remain  at 
home.”  One  difficulty  remained — the  dependent  con¬ 
dition  of  his  father.  This  he  removed  by  leaving  the 
seminary  long  enough  to  secure  for  him  a  pension  as  a 
soldier  of  the  Revolution,  after  which,  receiving  his 
father’s  approval  and  blessing,  he  recorded,  Feb.  12, 
1818,  “And  now ’t  is  done. . . .  Send  me  where  Thou 
wilt.” 

During  this  year  his  heart  was  cheered  by  another 
missionary  ordination  at  Salem,  where,  he  records  of  a 
little  company  of  ordained  and  expectant  missionaries, 
“there  were  eleven  of  us  together,  a  number  equal  to 
that  of  the  apostles  when  they  returned  to  Jerusalem 
from  Olivet.”  It  would  seem  to  have  been  in  this  year 
that  another  great  life-question  was  virtually  settled  for 
him.  He  had  been  greatly  exercised  as  to  a  suitable 
companion,  “  had  prayed  more  in  reference  to  this  sub¬ 
ject  than  in  reference  to  any  other  temporal  subject 
whatever,”  and  had  often  wished  that  some  maternal 
association  or  Moravian  church  would  settle  the  matter 
for  him.  But  at  length,  in  passing  through  the  town  of 
Holden  one  Vacation,  he  was  “providentially  introduced 
to  a  lady  of  singularly  sweet  disposition,  modest  appear¬ 
ance,  and  dignified  demeanor,  bearing  the  name  of  Abi- 


Wily  1,1  AM  GOODKlyly. 


*3 


gail  P.  Davis.”  And  from  that  day  till  the  week  before 
his  death,  when  he  penned  these  words,  he  had  “  been 
so  thankful  that  the  business  was  not  left  to  any  mater¬ 
nal  association  or  to  any  church  or  to  any  other  organ¬ 
ization  under  heaven.”  His  last  writing  was  an  expres¬ 
sion  of  love  and  commendation  for  this  wife  of  his  youth 
and  his  old  age.  His  own  personal  success,  however, 
did  not  prevent  him  from  offering  his  services  to  his 
friend  Thurston  in  an  emergency — suggesting  the  lady, 
bringing  about  an  introduction,  securing  the  publish¬ 
ment  of  the  banns,  and,  in  company  with  a  lady  friend, 
visiting  Boston  to  procure  the  outfit — all  within  the 
space  of  three  weeks  before  Thurston  sailed  for  the 
Sandwich  Islands. 

While  in  the  theological  seminary  he  spent  his  va¬ 
cations  in  evangelistic  work,  visiting  from  house  to 
house,  distributing  tracts,  and  holding  religious  meet¬ 
ings.  His  labors  at  Newcastle,  N.  H.,  were  especially 
blessed.  After  his  graduation  he  made  an  engagement 
to  visit  the  churches  and  awaken  an  interest  in  foreign 
missions.  He  began  in  the  towns  upon  the  Hudson 
River,  in  one  of  which,  the  town  of  Catskill,  he  was 
thrown  from  a  carriage,  and  the  beginning  of  his  mis¬ 
sionary  labors  came  near  being  the  end.  He  travelled 
thence  westward  through  the  then  almost  unsettled  por¬ 
tions  of  New  York,  Ohio,  and  Indiana,  and  afterwards, 
at  the  request  of  Secretary  Evarts,  visited  the  Indian 
missions  at  the  Southwest,  travelling  on  horseback 
much  of  the  way  through  a  wilderness. 


i4 


AMERICAN  HEROES. 


IN  MALTA  AND  BEIRUT. 

On  the  9th  of  December,  1822,  Mr.  Goodell,  with 
his  wife,  to  whom  he  had  been  united  three  weeks  pre¬ 
viously,  set  sail,  appointed  to  the  mission  in  Palestine, 
and  expecting  to  labor  at  Jerusalem.  But  they  never 
saw  the  Holy  City.  For  when,  long  afterwards,  a  friend 
invited  him  to  take  the  journey  without  expense,  though 
Jerusalem  had  been  the  dream  and  goal  of  his  early 
life,  he  would  not  leave  his  work  to  enjoy  the  gratifica¬ 
tion. 

They  landed  first  at  Malta,  as  was  then  the  custom, 
to  commence  the  study  of  the  languages,  and,  after  a  few 
months,  at  Beirut.  Here,  though  their  stay  was  intend¬ 
ed  to  be  but  temporary,  they  entered  at  once  on  active 
labors,  meanwhile  pursuing  the  study  of  the  Turkish, 
Arabic,  and  Armenian  languages.  The  polyglot  con¬ 
dition  of  the  missionary  company  then  gathered  in  Bei- 
rut  is  illustrated  by  a  remark  in  one  of  his  letters:  “We 
almost  daily  read  the  Scriptures  in  ancient  Greek,  mod¬ 
ern  Greek,  ancient  Armenian,  modern  Armenian,  Ar- 
meno-Turkish,  Arabic,  Italian,  and  English,  and  fre¬ 
quently  hear  them  read  in  Syriac,  Hebrew,  and  French.” 
It  was  in  the  midst  of  the  war  between  Greece  and  Tur¬ 
key.  Here  came  their  first  trial.  A  band  of  Greek 
sailors  landed  on  a  pillaging  expedition,  and  came  to 
his  door,  but  left  him  unmolested.  On  their  departure 
the  Albanians  and  Bedouins  rushed  in,  terrified  his  fam¬ 
ily,  threatened  his  life,  and  committed  violence  and  dep¬ 
redations.  By  the  ingenious  device  of  sending  a  pic- 


WILLIAM  GOODElyly.  15 

ture  of  the  scene  to  the  Pasha  of  St.  Jean  D’Acre,  how¬ 
ever  he  obtained  redress. 

Soon  after  this  commotion  was  fairly  over  persecu¬ 
tion  commenced.  It  was  made  by  the  ecclesiastics  a 
penal  offence  to  salute  the  missionaries  or  render  them 
any  service  whatever.  The  Turks  joined  the  combina¬ 
tion.  The  missionaries  were  in  constant  apprehension 
of  personal  violence  when  abroad,  and  at  night  knew 
not  what  assaults  might  be  made  on  them  before  morn¬ 
ing.  For  two  years  Mr.  Goodell  seldom  closed  his  eyes 
to  sleep  without  first  thinking  over  the  means  of  escape, 
and  seldom  walked  abroad  without  looking  for  places 
of  refuge. 

At  length  new  complications  arose  from  the  Greco - 
Turkish  war.  The  Turks  were  exasperated  against  all 
Europeans,  and  the  situation  of  the  missionaries  be¬ 
came  so  perilous  that,  as  Mr.  Goodell  wrote,  “we  almost 
nod  now  and  then  to  see  whether  our  heads  are  on  our 
shoulders.”  His  family  were  sent  for  safety  to  the 
mountains,  where  he  could  visit  them  only  by  stealth. 
The  continuance  of  the  troubles  determined  them  (in 
1828)  to  withdraw  for  a  time  to  Malta,  where  then,  for 
similar  reasons,  nearly  all  the  American  missionaries  on 
the  Mediterranean  were  gathered.  But  already  he  had 
commenced  the  great  work  of  translating  the  Bible  into 
Armeno-Turkish,  and  while  at  Malta  issued  the  entire 
New  Testament  and  sent  it  forth  with  a  characteristic 
prayer  and  benediction. 


i6 


AMERICAN  HEROES. 


TRANSFER  TO  CONSTANTINOPLE. 

And  now,  at  length  (in  1831),  the  American  Board 
sent  him  to  the  chief  scene  of  his  life-long  labors,  that 
city  of  unrivalled  situation,  Constantinople.  His  wife 
and  the  ladies  who  accompanied  her  were  supposed  to 
be  the  first  American  ladies  who  ever  visited  that  fa¬ 
mous  city,  as  Dr.  Schauffler,  who  arrived  a  year  later, 
was  the  first  person  to  introduce  a  cooking-stove  and  a 
rocking-chair  into  the  Turkish  Empire.*  Two  months 
after  Goodell’s  arrival  in  Constantinople,  just  as  he  was 
established  in  his  house  and  ready  for  work,  came  that 
terrible  conflagration  which  swept  more  than  a  square 
mile  of  the  city  with  indiscriminate  destruction.  It  not 
only  consumed  nearly  every  article  of  his  property,  in¬ 
cluding  grammars,  dictionaries,  commentaries,  transla¬ 
tions  and  manuscripts  of  every  kind,  but  brought  him 
at  last  a  narrow  escape  with  his  life.  “  It  reminded  one 
of  the  fires  of  the  last  day.”  His  losses  were  eventually, 
in  great  measure,  made  up  by  friends.  But  he  was  for 
a  time  a  wanderer,  and  three  weeks  later  found  himself 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  plague  and  the  cholera  with  a  new¬ 
born  son  in  the  family.  At  this  time  Commodore  Por¬ 
ter,  our  excellent  charge  d’  affaires,  kindly  offered  him  a 
home  for  the  winter,  which  was  gratefully  accepted ;  and 
thus  commenced  an  intimacy  terminated  only  by  the 
death  of  Porter.  He  entered  at  once  on  his  work  with 
that  mingled  activity,  devotedness,  and  conciliation 

*  This  was  said  to  the  writer  by  Dr.  Schauffler  in  Constantino¬ 
ple  in  1874. 


WIIXIAM  GOODI^RR. 


17 


which  followed  him  throughout  life.  Within  a  few 
weeks  he  had  established  among  the  Greeks  four  so- 
called  Lancasterian  schools,  which  were  soon  largely 
increased  in  number,  and  was  engaged  in  his  personal 
work  with  the  Armenians. 

His  principles  were  to  prosecute  his  work  diligently 
but  quietly,  to  avoid  mere  controversy  and  all  move¬ 
ments  which  would  invite  opposition,  to  leaven  individ¬ 
uals  and  communities  with  the  gospel,  and  to  aim  at  no 
outward  changes,  except  as  the  way  was  clearly  pre¬ 
pared  by  Providence.  His  ready  wit  and  humor  often 
served  him  a  good  turn.  Thus  when  the  Patriarch’s 
vicar  was  determined  to  force  him  into  a  dispute  on  the 
eucharist,  which  would  have  frustrated  the  object  of  his 
visit,  he  twice  parried  the  effort  with  a  pleasantry  which 
produced  a  general  laugh,  ended  the  discussion,  and 
kept  all  serene. 

SICKNESS  AND  PERSECUTION. 

His  first  school  for  girls,  in  May,  1832,  created  a 
commotion  which  had  hardly  subsided  when,  in  the 
same  summer,  the  city  was  visited  with  the  plague,  the 
cholera,  and  rumors  of  war — the  decisive  war  between 
the  Sultan  and  Ibrahim  Pasha,  the  Viceroy  of  Egypt. 
Many  of  his  neighbors  were  carried  off  by  the  cholera, 
and  he  did  not  escape  without  an  attack. 

The  gospel  began  to  take  effect.  The  conversion  of 
Hohannes  and  Senakerim  began  the  good  work  and  the 
counter-excitement,  both  of  which  went  on  by  a  kind  of 
action  and  reaction,  intensifying  as  they  went,  until  the 


i8 


AMERICAN  HEROES. 


opposition  became  (in  1839)  persecution,  attended  with 
exile  and  imprisonment  of  the  converts.  But  before 
this  persecution  culminated  he  was  again  surrounded 
by  the  plague  in  its  most  frightful  form.  The  reported 
victims  for  a  time  averaged  from  six  to  ten  thousand  a 
week.  All  ordinary  intercourse  was  broken  off.  Every 
thing  and  person  was  fumigated.  Letters  were  received 
with  tongs,  and  then  disinfected.  Families  dared  not 
make  purchases.  Everything  was  suspended  but  sick¬ 
ness  and  death.  Mrs.  Dwight  and  her  son  died,  the 
only  ones  of  the  missionary  band.  But  they  were  all  in 
danger;  indeed,  all  were  in  a  very  unusual  manner  ex¬ 
posed  to  it.  Goodell  wrote:  “  How  many  of  us  or  who 
of  us  may  be  alive  after  another  week  no  man  can  tell.” 
But  he  also  wrote,  not  long  before,  while  in  the  midst 
of  all  the  frightful  precautions  they  were  obliged  to  take, 
“You  would  see  us  generally  cheerful  and  happy,  at¬ 
tending  to  our  translations,  having  our  precious  little 
meetings  together,  and  sometimes  feeling  that  we  were 
probably  within  a  day  or  two  of  heaven.”  They  were 
then  in  the  habit  of  often  reading  the  ninety-first  Psalm. 

The  persecution  did  not  abate  with  the  cholera.  It 
grew  fiercer  and  fiercer,  not  only  expending  itself  upon 
the  native  converts  and  friends  of  the  missionaries,  but 
threatening  to  break  up  all  missionary  operations  and 
banish  the  missionaries.  Mr.  Goodell  calmly  awaited 
the  expected  order  to  leave,  after  having  secreted  in  dif¬ 
ferent  places  all  his  papers.  But  at  the  darkest  moment 
God  interposed  in  the  defeat  of  the  Sultan’s  army  at 
Aleppo,  the  sudden  death  of  Sultan  Mahmoud  himself. 


WIL, L,IAM  GOODE}  L,  I,. 


*9 


a  great  fire  in  Constantinople,  and  the  impoverishment 
and  overthrow  of  many  leading  persecutors.  The  hand 
of  violence  was  arrested. 

Other  trials  followed ;  indeed,  they  were  scarcely  in¬ 
termitted.  For  two  years  there  was  uninterrupted  ill¬ 
ness  in  the  home,  and  a  beloved  son,  the  firstborn  of 
Americans  in  Constantinople,  was  called  away.  There 
are  few  tenderer  and  more  touching  tributes  than  his 
account  of  the  child’s  sufferings,  patience,  and  death.  To 
recount  all  the  heavy  and  almost  overwhelming  strains 
upon  his  faith,  patience,  and  Christian  courage  would  be 
to  follow  him  through  most  of  his  missionary  life.  But 
no  trials  or  afflictions  seemed  to  depress  his  spirits  or 
to  hinder  his  work. 

THE  ARMENO-TURKISH  BIBLE. 

In  the  year  1841  he  had  accomplished  what  may  be 
considered  his  one  greatest  achievement — the  translation 
of  the  entire  Bible  into  the  Armeno-Turkish  language. 
It  was  the  toilsome  but  loving  labor  of  many  years,  and 
was  revised  again  and  again,  to  become  one  of  the 
great  landmarks  of  missionary  effort  in  Turkey  and  a 
perpetual  fountain  of  life.  Eighteen  years  before  its 
publication  the  work  had  been  urged  upon  him  by  Rev. 
Pliny  Fisk,  and  only  his  determination  to  make  it  as 
perfect  as  possible,  a  permanent  acquisition  to  a  great 
nation,  prevented  the  issue  of  it  long  before.  No  one 
can  appreciate,  without  reading  his  own  account,  the 
painstaking  diligence,  the  conscientious  use  of  helps, 
printed  and  oral,  far  and  near,  the  elaborate  and  oft- 


20 


AMERICAN  HEROES. 


repeated  scrutiny  of  individual  passages,  and,  above  all, 
the  devout  and  absorbing  love  with  which  the  work  was 
carried  through.  “  My  feelings  have  gone  along  with 
those  of  the  sacred  writers  to  such  a  degree  that  often, 
when  alone  in  my  study  I  have  been  reading  a  page 
perhaps  for  the  seventh  time,  I  have  had  to  stop  to  wipe^ 
away  the  fast-flowing  tears  or  to  offer  up  such  prayers 
and  praises  as  the  subject  called  forth.”  At  this  time 
he  spoke  of  it  as  the  work  of  “  eight  years.”  But  for 
twelve  years  more  he  was  engaged  from  time  to  time  in 
revising  it,  “with  as  much  painstaking  and  prayerful¬ 
ness  as  the  original  translation;”  and  it  was  only  in 
1863,  four  years  before  his  death,  that  it  finally  left  his 
hands. 

During  much  of  the  time,  while  engaged  on  this 
translation,  he  found  it  necessary,  after  repeated  trials 
of  a  different  course,  to  withdraw  from  active  labors 
abroad  and  devote  himself  “  to  this  and  nothing  else.” 
And  nothing  is  more  noteworthy  than  the  quiet  resolu¬ 
tion  with  which  he  steadily  followed  his  own  conscien¬ 
tious  convictions,  and  the  unfaltering,  genial  good-na¬ 
ture  with  which  he  received  all  manner  of  inconsiderate 
advice  and  undiscerning  criticism.  He  hardly  ever  al¬ 
luded  to  the  subject.  But  once,  a  few  months  before 
this  translation  was  published,  he  wrote  to  a  fellow-mis¬ 
sionary  some  of  the  conflicting  suggestions  which  were 
made  to  him :  to  give  more  time  to  his  family ;  to  work 
more  vigorously  in  translating;  to  do  nothing  but 
“preach,  preach,  preach;”  to  write  more  letters  to  mis¬ 
sionary  stations  and  to  all  parts  of  America;  to  be  more 


WILLIAM  GOODELL. 


21 


constant  in  his  correspondence  with  his  many  friends, 
who  say  hard  things  about  him.  “  Now  what  to  do  I 
know  not.  I  would  most  gladly  give  my  time  to  my 
friends ;  I  would  give  it  all  to  my  family ;  I  would  de¬ 
vote  it  all  to  translating  the  Word  of  God;  and  I  would 
with  all  my  heart  spend  it  in  publishing  the  good  news. 
But  to  devote  the  whole  of  it  to  each  one  of  these  ob¬ 
jects  is  an  impossibility.  ...  I  must  try  more  to  please 
my  blessed  Lord,  and  let  the  whole  world  go.” 

A  striking  instance  of  mistaken  criticism  by  an  in¬ 
telligent  and  friendly  person  occurred  some  years  be¬ 
fore.  While  at  Beirut  Mr.  Goodell  had  translated 
some  tracts,  and  among  them  the  “  Dairyman’s  Daugh¬ 
ter.”  Just  after  the  fire  at  Constantinople  a  distin¬ 
guished  medical  gentleman  from  New  York  had  spent 
some  months  in  the  same  house  with  Mr.  Goodell  and 
in  the  pleasantest  of  relations.  This  gentleman,  on  his 
return,  published  a  volume  in  which,  while  commending 
the  activity  of  the  missions,  he  regretted  that  “  such  be¬ 
nevolent  efforts  should  in  some  instances  have  taken  a 
wrong  direction.”  And  he  mentioned, as  a  specific  case 
in  point,  this  tract  the  “  Dairyman’s  Daughter.”  Now 
it  so  happened  that  about  the  very  time,  1832,  when 
this  remark  was  published  in  New  York,  Mr.  Goodell, 
on  a  journey  to  Brusa,  had  passed  through  Nicomedia, 
and  at  the  door  of  a  church  had  put  this  tract  into  the 
hands  of  a  boy  and  passed  on.  The  boy  carried  it  to 
the  priest,  and  he  to  another  priest,  and  both  these  men, 
Vertanes  and  Harutun,  were  converted  by  means  of  it; 
a  company  of  believers  was  organized  by  their  efforts, 


AMERICAN  HEROES. 


and  the  revival  spread  into  the  neighboring  villages. 
Long  ago  this  tract  was  circulating  in  twenty  languages. 

OTHER  LABORS. 

After  the  publication  of  the  Armeno -Turkish  Bible, 
Mr.  Goodell  was  enabled  to  engage  in  a  greater  variety 
of  labors,  and  to  exert  a  steadily  growing  influence 
within  and  without  the  missionary  circle.  Those  who 
would  fully  understand  the  work,  or  appreciate  the  rare 
spirit  and  the  marvellous  buoyancy  and  brightness  of 
the  man,  must  be  referred  to  the  excellent  narrative  of 
his  life,  entitled  “  Forty  Years  in  the  Turkish  Empire.” 
His  letters  present  a  combination  of  devoutness,  tender¬ 
ness,  quaintness,  wisdom,  wit,  and  facility  seldom 
equalled.  They  are  remarkable  alike  for  their  inimita¬ 
ble  naturalness  of  style,  their  almost  unconscious  Scrip¬ 
turalness  of  phraseology,  their  unfailing  vivacity  of 
thought,  and  the  genial  humor  that  never  could  be 
long  repressed.  They  redeem  the  art  of  letter-writing 
in  modern  times.  Not  the  least  pleasant  aspect  of  his 
correspondence  is  the  thoughtfulness  and  love  with 
which,  in  their  times  of  special  joy  or  sorrow,  or  of  his 
own  impulse,  he  remembers  his  old  and  distant  friends : 
his  preceptor,  Adams,  his  college  classmate,  Haddock, 
his  fellow-students  Sidney  E.  Morse  and  the  mission¬ 
aries  Winslow  and  Spaulding,  his  old  friend  Judge 
Cooke,  his  long-time  associate,  Temple,  his  afflicted 
missionary  “sister”  at  Brusa,  Mrs.  Thurston,  of  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  the  widowed  mother  of  a  missionary 
to  Constantinople,  Drs.  Anderson,  Schauffler,  and  many 


WIL,  1,1AM  GOODKl,!,. 


23 


others.  His  affectionate  interest  and  sympathy  flowed 
out  in  every  direction.  His  letters  to  the  Society  of 
Inquiry  at  Andover,  “  to  the  children  of  America/’  to 
his  “  dear  Cherokee  daughters,”  to  his  “  dear  children 
and  grandchildren  in  Constantinople,  Harpoot,  and 
America,”  and  his  farewell  letter  to  the  evangelical 
churches  of  Turkey,  breathe  the  apostolic  spirit. 

To  follow  him  through  the  details  of  his  missionary 
life  and  experiences  would  be  to  give  a  history  of  the 
mission  in  Constantinople  for  a  generation.  It  would 
show  how  with  a  constitution  always  feeble,  by  his  in¬ 
dustry,  promptness,  and  method  he  accomplished  a  vast 
amount  of  labor;  by  his  unselfish  disinterestedness  he 
gained  and  wielded  great  influence ;  by  his  peace-lov¬ 
ing  spirit  he  ever  advocated  and  maintained  friendly 
relations,  and  commanded  universal  love  and  respect; 
by  his  modest  sagacity  he  helped  solve  many  a  perplex¬ 
ity;  by  his  cheerful  courage  he  passed  happily  through 
what  he  well  called  a  “  stormy  life ;”  by  his  simple,  fer¬ 
vent  piety  he  helped  many  souls  towards  heaven;  by 
his  untiring  industry  he  preached  the  gospel  in  six  dif¬ 
ferent  languages;  and  by  his  conscientiousness  and 
unwearied  scholarship  he  achieved  “  a  work  that  fairly 
places  his  name  beside  that  of  Wicklif  and  Tyndale.” 
All  this  he  did  amid  constant  hindrances  and  interrup¬ 
tions,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  the  fact  that  he 
speaks  of  having  been  obliged  to  change  his  residence 
“  dozens  of  times.” 

But  without  dwelling  on  the  long  catalogue  of  trials 
by  sickness,  fire,  alarms  of  plague  and  cholera,  embar- 


24 


AMERICAN  HEROES. 


rassments  of  all  kinds,  manifold  oppositions  and  perse¬ 
cutions,  often  distressing  and  violent,  proceeding  to 
imprisonments,  and  in  one  instance  to  the  public  execu¬ 
tion  of  an  Armenian  convert,  he  lived  to  rejoice  abun¬ 
dantly  in  what  he  had  been  permitted  to  do  and  to  be¬ 
hold — “  much  greater  things  than  we  had  ever  expected 
in  our  brightest  days  of  hope  and  anticipation.”  In  one 
of  his  last  letters  to  the  Board  before  the  termination  of 
his  labors,  he  says  (March  2,  1865),  “  The  work  of  mis¬ 
sions  appears  to  me  more  excellent  and  glorious  as  I 
begin  to  feel  that  my  connection  with  it  is  drawing  to  a 
close.  I  bless  God  for  the  great  privilege  of  being  con¬ 
nected  with  it  for  so  long  a  time.” 

The  changes  he  had  seen  were  great  indeed.  He 
had  arrived  in  Constantinople  when  the  opinion  had 
been  recently  expressed  that  a  Protestant  service  in  any 
language  would  not  be  tolerated,  except  in  the  palaces 
of  the  foreign  legations,  when  the  Armenians  were 
wholly  inaccessible,  and  there  was  not  a  European  in 
the  city  who  could  fully  sympathize  with  him  in  his 
work,  and  but  “a  single  native  found  whose  heart 
seemed  at  all  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit.”  It  was  with 
the  utmost  difficulty  he  could  even  gain  a  residence  in 
Bebek,  not  being  permitted  to  live  in  Constantinople 
proper  or  any  of  its  suburbs,  except  Pera.  Schools  and 
religious  assemblies,  though  held  in  private  apartments, 
were  liable  at  any  time  to  be  interrupted.  He  was  en¬ 
veloped  in  an  atmosphere  of  misrepresentation  and  of 
opposition  on  every  hand,  stronger  from  nominal  Chris¬ 
tians  than  even  from  the  Turks.  It  seemed  a  forlorn  hope. 


WILLIAM  GOODKlfl*. 


25 


He  lived  to  see  the  Turkish  Government  steadily 
changing  its  attitude ;  induced  or  constrained  to  issue  a 
formal  Bill  of  Rights  in  1839  (the  Hatti  Sheriff  of  Gul 
Hane);  to  give  the  personal  pledge  of  the  Sultan  in 
1844  against  persecution;  to  issue  in  1847  and  I^5o  a 
charter  for  the  Protestant  Church,  in  1853  the  firman 
of  protection  to  Protestants,  and  in  1856  the  celebrated 
Hatti  Humayoun,  declaring — however  imperfect  the 
subsequent  fulfilment — that  “no  subject  of  the  empire 
shall  be  hindered  in  the  exercise  of  the  religion  that  he 
professes,  nor  shall  be  in  any  way  annoyed  on  this  ac¬ 
count.”  He  lived  to  see  schools  for  girls,  colleges,  and 
theological  seminaries  flourishing  in  the  Turkish  Em¬ 
pire,  and  a  noble  band  of  churches  organized  with  all 
the  agencies  of  life  and  growth  and  inextinguishable 
power.  He  lived  to  see  the  American  mission  work  in 
Turkey  profoundly  respected  and  extolled  by  the  high¬ 
est  European  authorities  for  its  singular  wisdom,  catho¬ 
licity,  and  efficiency,  and  himself  beloved  and  honored 
as  one  of  its  noblest  representatives  and  patriarchs. 

VISIT  TO  AMERICA. 

Nor  was  he  less  honored  and  beloved  in  his  native 
land  by  thousands  that  never  had  seen  his  face,  but 
knew  him  by  his  charming  letters  and  noble  labors. 
After  nearly  thirty  years  of  voluntary  exile,  by  special 
request  of  the  Prudential  Committee  of  the  American 
Board,  in  1851,  he  and  Mrs.  Goodell  visited  their  native 
land.  He  came,  in  the  fulfilment  of  his  own  prayer, 
that  “  it  may  be  both  to  receive  and  to  impart  a  bless- 


26 


AMERICAN  HLROKS. 


ing.”  He  reached  Boston  just  in  season  to  be  at  the 
dying  bed  and  to  attend  the  funeral  of  his  beloved 
friend  Temple.  He  visited  his  native  town  to  look 
upon  a  Sabbath  congregation  where  he  could  not  rec¬ 
ognize  one  countenance,  and  to  search  in  vain  for  the 
grave  of  his  “  gentle  mother.”  He  then  visited  his  rela¬ 
tives  scattered  over  the  country,  who  in  every  instance 
failed  to  recognize  him  till  he  made  himself  known, 
often  in  his  own  humorous  way.  But  they  were  joyful 
meetings. 

After  thus  gratifying  the  yearnings  of  his  warm  fam¬ 
ily  affection,  he  gave  himself  for  two  years  almost  in¬ 
cessantly  to  travelling  the  country  in  aid  of  the  cause 
of  missions.  During  this  period  he  “travelled  about 
twenty-five  thousand  miles,  addressed  more  than  four 
hundred  congregations,  speaking  on  an  average  about 
an  hour  each  time,”  besides  meeting  “  students  of  col¬ 
leges  and  theological  seminaries,  Sabbath  and  select 
schools,  all  over  the  country.”  It  refreshed  him.  “  In¬ 
stead  of  being  worn  down,  I  feel  all  the  fresher  and  the 
better  for  it.”  While  thus  doing  good,  he  was  also 
getting  good.  Everywhere  he  was  welcomed,  and  he 
enjoyed  everything.  It  was  a  perpetual  delight.  “We 
have  loved  to  look  upon  the  greenness,  the  freshness, 
and  the  verdure  of  your  meadows,  so  different  from  the 
East,  and  to  think  what  a  good  land  it  is  which  the 
Lord  God  of  your  fathers  has  given  unto  you.  We 
have  loved  to  look  upon  your  godly-minded  farms,  as 
they  might  almost  be  called,  that  is,  farms  cultivated 
with  honesty,  industry,  and  economy,  and  in  many 


WIIylylAM  GOOD^Iyly. 


27 


cases  ‘sanctified  by  the  Word  of  God  and  prayer.’ 
And  after  having  for  so  many  years  seen  scarcely  a  face 
which  was  not  distorted  more  or  less  by  arrogance  or 
cringing  servility,  by  intolerance,  bigotry,  selfishness, 
or  unjust  suffering,  we  have  gazed  with  delight  on  the 
tens  of  thousands  of  happy  countenances  in  this  happy 
land  which  are  lighted  up  with  such  bright  expres¬ 
sions  of  kindness,  benevolence,  and  Christian  hope.  .  .  . 
These  pleasant  fields  and  beautiful  gardens,  with  all 
their  fragrant  flowers,  and  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand 
hills,  we  have  enjoyed  them  all.  In  all  our  travels 
through  this  good  land  we  have  met  with  the  most 
hearty  welcome  and  have  had  the  best  of  accommoda¬ 
tions.  We  have  had  no  taxes  to  pay  and  no  trouble 
with  domestics,  nor  have  we  been  burdened  with  any 
care  or  responsibility ;  and  yet,  during  all  our  sojourn 
here,  we  have  been  like  the  possessor  of  a  great  estate, 
having  ‘servants  and  maidens,  and  men-singers  and 
women-singers,  musical  instruments,  and  that  of  all 
sorts,’  for  our  special  entertainment.  The  Bible  prom¬ 
ises  a  hundred-fold  to  those  who  suffer  any  loss  for  the 
truth’s  sake;  but  this  good  Bible  always  does  better 
than  it  promises ;  and  we  here  publicly  acknowledge, 
for  the  encouragement  of  all  others,  that  we  ourselves, 
however  unworthy  to  suffer  or  to  speak  of  suffering, 
have  already  received  ten  times  nearer  a  thousand-fold 
than  a  hundred.” 


28 


AMERICAN  HEROES. 


HIS  LAST  TWELVE  YEARS. 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Goodell  returned  in  1853  t°  the  field 
of  their  life-work  in  Constantinople, -where  he  continued 
with  increasing  influence  and  honor  till  his  advancing 
years  and  failing  strength  admonished  him  that  his 
work  was  nearly  done.  He  then  gathered  up  forty- 
eight  of  his  sermons  and  published  them  in  the  Turk¬ 
ish  language,  with  a  farewell  letter  to  the  Protestant 
churches,  and  in  1865  requested  of  the  Board  a  release. 
“  It  is,”  said  he,  “  a  sad  conclusion  to  which  we  have 
come,  but  after  much  thought  and  consultation  we  are 
unable  to  come  to  any  other.  When  we  left  America 
the  first  time,  in  1822,  I  do  not  recollect  that  either  of 
us  shed  a  tear.  When  we  sailed  the  second  time,  in 
1853,  and  left  five  children  standing  on  the  wharf  in 
Boston,  not  one  of  whom  had  yet  found  a  home,  we  sat 
down  and  wept.  But  at  the  very  thought  of  leaving 
our  work  in  Constantinople,  together  with  our  beloved 
associates  and  all  the  dear  objects  of  our  prayers  and 
labors  in  the  East,  our  head  seems  ready  at  once  to  be¬ 
come  waters  and  our  eyes  a  fountain  of  tears.  Of  all 
our  separations  this  seems  the  hardest  to  bear.” 

The  parting  was  almost  equally  sad  to  a  large  circle 
of  friends,  English  and  American,  by  whom  he  was 
tenderly  beloved.  They  held  a  public  meeting  to  pre¬ 
pare  an  address  and  make  him  a  present.  Various  fam¬ 
ilies  and  individuals,  including  a  company  of  the  mis¬ 
sionary  children,  sent  him  testimonials  of  their  affection. 
The  United  States  Ambassador,  Hon.  E.  J.  Morris, 


W3XUAM  GOODEkb. 


29 


wrote  him  a  letter  of  regret,  in  which  he  said,  “  In  my 
intercourse  with  men  I  have  never  met  with  one  who, 
in  his  actions,  speech,  and  manner  of  life,  more  truly 
represented  the  excellences  of  the  Christian  character.” 
He  spent  several  days  in  visiting  from  house  to  house, 
conversing,  singing,  and  praying  with  the  families.  A 
hundred  of  the  people  came  the  evening  before  his  de¬ 
parture  to  sing  a  farewell  hymn,  and  “  among  the  crowd 
that  followed  him  weeping  to  the  wharf  were  some  who 
had  stoned  and  spat  upon  him  in  the  days  of  the  perse¬ 
cution.”  His  heart  lingered  behind  as  he  left  for  ever 
the  scene  of  his  labors.  “As  we  swept  around  Seraglio 
Point,  and  I  caught  the  last  glimpse  of  Constantinople 
and  its  magnificent  surroundings,  I  kept  saying  in  my 
heart,  ‘  Farewell,  thou  beautiful  city.  May  thy  moral 
beauties  soon  equal  all  thy  natural.  I  should  love  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  thy  people  once  more.’  ” 

The  remainder  is  soon  told.  But  about  eighteen 
months  were  left.  He  preached  and  delivered  various 
addresses,  and  gave  accounts  of  the  work  in  the  East. 
He  addressed  the  students  of  Auburn  Theological  Sem¬ 
inary  and  conversed  with  individuals  who  looked  to 
the  missionary  work.  He  spoke  at  South  Hadley  Sem¬ 
inary,  and  finally  made  his  home  with  his  son  in  Phila¬ 
delphia,  where  he  took  charge  of  a  Bible-class  of  busi¬ 
ness  men  and  entered  into  all  the  Christian  activities  of 
the  church. 

The  most  striking  of  all  his  appearances  in  public 
was  when,  in  October,  1865,  he  attended  the  meeting  of 
the  American  Bo^:d  in  Chicago.  No  one  will  ever  for- 


3° 


AMERICAN  HEROES. 


get  him  who  saw  him  there,  with  his  flowing  white 
beard  and  the  velvet  cap  wrought  with  Arabic  sentences 
by  the  schoolgirls  of  Aleppo,  or  who  felt  the  hush  when 
he  rose  and  with  feeble  voice  addressed  the  great  as¬ 
sembly  thus:  “  When  I  went  from  my  native  country  in 
1822,  it  was  to  go  to  Jerusalem;  that  was  my  destina¬ 
tion.  There  I  expected  to  live  and  labor  and  to  die 
and  be  buried,  arising  again  at  the  resurrection  of  the 
just.  I  have  never  been  there.  I  have  now  set  my 
face  towards  the  New  Jerusalem,  taking  Chicago  on  my 
way.” 

He  was  not  far  from  his  second  goal.  For  a  little 
more  than  a  year  he  continued  the  labors  that  have 
been  indicated,  including  a  five  months’  tour,  in  which 
he  preached  every  Sabbath  but  one,  and  made  public 
addresses  nearly  every  day,  spoke  to  the  students  of 
Amherst  College,  attended  the  Andover  anniversaries 
and  one  more  meeting  of  the  American  Board,  at  Pitts¬ 
field.  It  was  so  ordered  in  the  good  providence  of 
God  that  on  his  return  his  final  and  delighted  occupa¬ 
tion  was,  in  compliance  with  his  children’s  earnest  re¬ 
quest,  to  write  out  the  precious  reminiscences  of  his 
early  life ;  and  the  very  latest  thing  he  wrote  was  the 
letter  telling  “  how  he  found  a  wife.”  One  full  day 
more  was  given,  the  Sabbath  day,  on  which  he  attended 
church,  conducted  his  Bible -class,  came  home  “so 
happy,”  in  his  evening  prayer  mentioned  all  his  chil¬ 
dren  by  name,  asked  God’s  blessing  on  all  “  Eastern 
and  Western  ”  friends,  and  retired  in  apparent  health. 

At  midnight  he  awoke  in  great  distress,  which  con- 


"WT  1,1,1  AM  GOODEhh. 


31 


tinued  unabated ;  and  though  he  said  he  had  never  been 
so  ill  before,  he  also  said  later  in  the  day  that  this, 
which  was  his  birthday,  had  been  “  one  continued 
psalm  of  thanksgiving.”  Towards  evening  he  was  re¬ 
lieved  of  pain,  slept  a  little,  awoke  with  the  words,  “  I 
am  so  tired,”  and  in  a  few  minutes  more  had  gone  up 
to  the  New  Jerusalem.  A  blessed  life  and  a  blessed 
death.  May  his  mantle  rest  on  many  a  young  Elisha ! 


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